"Maestro Bird has mentioned a couple of different meanings for this song over the past few months. While at his performance in Denver, he spoke of a fishing trip with his Dad where he got horrible food poisoning. And he was amazed at his bodies reaction to expelling..." (view)

"I really like this tune. I wonder whether this album Fingerlings drew its title from this song ("take these fingerlings from my fingers"). To me, it's sort of a nostalgic wish to go back in time to the era when one could head out west to the frontier and leave..." (view)

"I've got to got with "harbor sots," for best fitting both the lyrical context and Bird's lack of accent (haha). I did a search for "Hobis-hots" and "Hobishot" and found only a handful of hits ALL related to this song, making me think that it was a mishearing/typo... unless anyone..." (view)

"Ignore the title. "Souverian" is just a pretty French word Mr. Bird liked. He was asked about it in an NPR interview just before the album release. Host: I don't know if I'm saying this right, Sou- Bird: "Souverian," yeah. It's French. Host: Oh, what's it mean? Bird: I do not know. You know him,..." (view)

"I think y'all are too quick to dismiss the idea of the crooked bow referring to a bow tie. As with many of Mr. Bird's lyrics, it draws strength from having multiple interpretations at once. Especially given the lyrical context of the first "crooked bow" reference--an awkward pause..." (view)

""I hear the clockwork in your core time strips the gears till you forget what they were for" In the context of this being a break up song, the above lines kind of feel like a reference to a biological imperative to reproduce. Maybe Bird wanted kids and his partner didn't, or..." (view)

""Hold on just a second Don't tell me this one you know I know this one I know this song I know this one I love this song" I love the way he sings this line. He uses the natural melody in the way someone would actually say this line. When a friend..." (view)

"I've got to got with "harbor sots," for best fitting both the lyrical context and Bird's lack of accent (haha). I did a search for "Hobis-hots" and "Hobishot" and found only a handful of hits ALL related to this song, making me think that it was a mishearing/typo... unless anyone..." (view)

"do you guys think this has anything to do with the song "I can see you're house from here" it seems to follow the guide lines of the music and lyrics." (view)

"I think school must have ruined my brain, because when I hear this song, I only think about computers during WWII. The Colossus was a code breaker used by the British to defeat Germany's Enigma...it fits in my head, at least :)" (view)

"do you guys think this has anything to do with the song "I can see you're house from here" it seems to follow the guide lines of the music and lyrics." (view)

"This song is actually "The Privateers," and these posted lyrics have a lot of mistakes. The actual lyrics are posted under the correct title." (view)

"I've got to got with "harbor sots," for best fitting both the lyrical context and Bird's lack of accent (haha). I did a search for "Hobis-hots" and "Hobishot" and found only a handful of hits ALL related to this song, making me think that it was a mishearing/typo... unless anyone..." (view)

"I think y'all are too quick to dismiss the idea of the crooked bow referring to a bow tie. As with many of Mr. Bird's lyrics, it draws strength from having multiple interpretations at once. Especially given the lyrical context of the first "crooked bow" reference--an awkward pause..." (view)

"AS PER THE LYRICS BOOKLET: it is "how's my LIVING, you can call" and when he sings all high-pitched, he's singing "the hour"" (view)

"I can't get this song out of my head. It's beautifully innocent and seems to be straining quietly toward adventure in its own doomed, lonely way. And that's just how it sounds without giving thought to the lyrics (after which it becomes a bit less innocent, but no..." (view)

"Anybody got a clue as to the actual line preceding "you can call / encrypted numbers / on bathroom stalls"? All I could hear was "How's my view and" and I'm almost certain that's not what's he saying." (view)

"For some reason, this song reminds me of the Smashing Pumpkins song Today. Etymology:From Old French soverain Souverain= french used as noun or adjective = sovereign= Exceptional in quality. Of course...he just could have made up the word because it sounded right too. (smirk)..." (view)

"It's not "harbor sorts," it's "harbor sots" -- a sot being a drunk, of course, as graphicpulse noted. And Bug2, why would Mr. Bird use a New England Down East Maine accent? I thought he was a Chicagoan." (view)

"Thanks for taking the time to do this, but the lyrics for this song are already posted under "The Privateers"" (view)

"OK-- So I am only going off of 1 You Tube vid of this for now, so I may change my mind when I get the disk and can process it better... but I hear... "hotless hots" who hang around with Poets a lot.-- UH huh. I am sure about the..." (view)

"Just a note, Bird references the "See 'N Say" children's toy (misspelled in the above lyrics as "sea and say"), the one on which you pull a lever and a the device tells you "this is a cat" or "listen to the cow" depending upon which picture is indicated by..." (view)

"I admit that it works either way, but when I crank up the volume and listen carefully, I'm pretty certain that it's "ports." But maybe my copy of the song is inferior, so I defer to the majority. ;)" (view)

"Thanks for pointing that out, patm718! If anyone's interested in comparing the two songs, the lyrics to The Confession are available on songmeanings.net, but under the band "Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire." It seems like the most major alteration is the removal of lyrics directly attacking commercialization, although the lyrics..." (view)